Bundesliga

After much speculation about his future, Josep Guardiola I Sala - popularly known as "Pep Guardiola" has agreed terms with German Bundesliga giant Bayern Munich on a three year contract. FC Bayern Munich has confirmed that the present Manager Jupp Heynckes will be retiring at the end of the season when his contract expires with the Bavarians. Making the news known Karl Hans Rummenigge expressed

“We are delighted to have being able to persuade Pep Guardiola to join Bayern Munich in the wake of several competitions from top clubs in Europe. Pep is one of the most successful coaches and we are confident that he will bring a lot to Bayern Munich and particular the German League. We look forward to start working with him in July 2013.

But the question would arise why Bayern Munich- particularly in the face of several competitions from top clubs like Chelsea who would certainly give him a blank cheque, even though from a football perspective, no forward thinking coach would want to put a dent to his CV and quite obviously, the money was not his motivation, the answer is not farfetched, the German league have gone through rejuvenation over the last ten years.

After all the pontificating over where he will go next, it seems the long wait is over, as Bayern Munich have just announced that Guardiola will be their next boss, taking over in the summer. Guardiola will replace current boss Jupp Heynckes, who will retire at the end of the season.

Earlier today, there were reports from the Football Association 150th anniversary celebrations, that he was suggesting that he wanted to manage a Premier League club. Now, it seems that it was all a red-herring to throw reporters off the trail!

Guardiola has signed a three year deal at the Bundesliga club. Bayern chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said: "Pep Guardiola is one of the most successful coaches in the world and we are sure that he can make not just Bayern, but all of German football shine."

There will be a lot of disappointed football fans in the UK today when they hear about this news, but one person has been spectacularly snubbed. That man is Roman Abramovich. Despite throwing ridiculous amounts of cash his way, Guardiola has decided against any involvement with the Chelsea sociopath.

It has been a relatively quiet Bundesliga campaign for Klaas-Jan Huntelaar so far, only scoring five goals. Compare that to being top goal scorer last season with 29 goals; he is some way of that tally this season.

The usual Huntelaar, who is aptly named ‘The Hunter’, has not struck that fear into opposition defences like he had done so successfully last season. The clinical sharpness has been lacking. Instead, slumped shoulders of discontent replaced his poaching instinct.

A long drawn out contract saga seemed the reason for a demoralised Huntelaar, with his performances suffering as a consequence. He was far from his best, and Schalke needed him dearly when they started to crumble after such a promising start to the season, claiming just one win out of their last eight Bundesliga matches.

In fact, the best performances from him was in the Champions League that saw him score four goals in six games, putting Schalke top of their group, ahead of Arsenal. Proof that when Huntelaar does fire on all cylinders, Schalke gain positive results.

Schalke 04 midfielder, Lewis Holtby, whose future was seemingly destined for North London with English club Tottenham Hotspur, has thrown doubt about his next move by admitting his dream would be to play for the club both he and his father support, Everton.

London based newspaper, The Sunday Express, today reported Holtby as saying,

“I used to sit with my dad in front of the TV and long to play in England. My father has been an Everton fan since he was five and he infected me with the Everton virus! Since then I have been an Everton fan. It would be realising a dream for me to play in the Premier League one day.”

This admission represents a huge twist in this transfer saga, as Tottenham believed they would get their man in the summer on a free transfer after the German international had signed a pre-contract agreement only last week.

It is also believed that Holtby’s club, Schalke, are willing to let him leave Gelsenkirchen during this transfer window so they can recover some sort of fee for a player who is likely to command plenty of interest from clubs both in the Bundesliga and the Premier League.

The bible story of the prodigal son best describes Nuri Sahin situation. Only just 19 months after making the dream move to Real Madrid, he is back to where he started his professional career. Nuri Sahin has signed a long term loan deal that will keep him till 2013/14 with an option of buying back from Real Madrid. Sahin is a local boy and he is pretty much at home with Dortmund, He is going back to a club he is familiar with. He started his career with Dortmund at the age of 16 making him the youngest Bundesliga debutant; he scored his first goal for Dortmund the same year making him the youngest goal scorer in the Bundesliga. He has been a ball boy for club, so he has been very much around the club apart from his loan spell with Feyenoord.